Inspirations

"Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." - John 10:7, 9-10

"The Christian faith is not true because it works. It works because it is true." - Os Guinness

PRAYER MOTIVATOR

"Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." - James 4:3

"Some stand on tiptoe trying to reach God to talk to him – you try too hard, friend – drop to your knees and listen to him, he’ll hear you better that way." - Ever Garrison

SOUL-WINNING MOTIVATOR

"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." - Mark 16:16

"Lost! Lost! Lost! Better a whole world on fire than a soul lost! Better every star quenched and the skies a wreck than a single soul to be lost!" - Charles Spurgeon

African American Honor Roll at Oakland Unified School District Enlists 1,000 Secondary School Students

May 17, 2014

More than a thousand high school and eighth grade students were honored for their scholastic achievement Monday night as African American Honor Roll students in Oakland Unified School District.

Gathered at Acts Full Gospel Church with several thousand proud parents, grandparents and siblings, the students were recognized by the district’s African American Task Force and the Office of African American Male Achievement.

“I just keep up with my work,” said eighth grader Brooklyn North of her 4.0 grade point average, which is straight As. She attends Oakland Military Institute.

To be on the honor roll, the students had to have better than a 3.0 grade point average. Oakland Unified began its African American Honor Roll 14 years ago and the district’s spokesman Troy Flint said this is the largest group to date.

“I work pretty hard,” said Lauryn Hearne, an eighth grader at Claremont Middle School. “But I’m used to it.” She hopes to go to college and study math.

Oakland Unified has been trying to close an achievement gap that has resulted in poorer outcomes for African-American and Latino students compared to its white and Asian students. According to state Department of Education data, 23.7 percent of African-American students who start high school in OUSD drop out, and among those who graduate, only a third have the courses needed to attend a state college or university — compared to 71 percent of whites and 73 percent of Asians, according to Department data.

But on Monday, 61 students from McClymonds High School, whose student population is all black, were on the honor roll. That’s about one third of the student body.

Oakland High School listed 126 students on the African American Honor Roll while Oakland Technical High School and Skyline High School, both very large schools, listed nearly 200 and 150 students, respectively.